My wife and I just painted the interior of our house with about 6-8 gallons, of $30+ per gallon (meaning the good stuff, non-diluted) with absolutely fantastic results. However we just paid an average of $5 per gallon. Reason...all big box stores have paint, set aside, that has been mixed but not picked up by the customer. They need to sell it quick and if you're not in a hurry (you know well in advance that a room or two need painting and it's not like the roof leaking and needs an immediate fix) you can go to each store when you need other supplies or food, like Walmart (when convenient, driving 20 miles to each is not worth it) and over the course of a month or two, pick out some very nice colors of quality paint. We found perfect colors...not saying they were our first choice but when we opened the can, very nice and some even better than our original picks. Cost to paint the entire house was about $100, with all materials included, period. We had it on the market for a few months to sell, didn't sell, painted the rooms, got 2 offers the day after we finished, took the best one and never looked back.

They only completed 2/3rds of the job and dumped their paint down a storm drain with a sign saying "dump no waste. Drains to salmon stream". Their owner response was that this was normal to dump paint and their paint was non toxic. In retrospect I should have just called WDFW or Dept. of Ecology. DON'T use this company if you want to protect our environment and want the job done like they said they would.

Referred by a neighbor, I got an estimate from Excel along with two other companies to paint the exterior of our home; their estimate was the cheapest by at least a grand compared to the other companies. They contacted me a couple of weeks earlier than expected and offered to do the power washing a week or so earlier due to an opening in their schedule, another opening got them to our house 2 weeks earlier than planned to paint!!! Hernan and his crew showed up promptly Monday morning and knocked out the job in just 2 days! Hernan was very professional and thorough. The house looks amazing and the care and detail-orientation of the crew is evident. I also felt very comfortable with them in and around the house whether or not we were home. We also got support from our contact person via email about paint selection. The only negative, and not worthy of losing a star, is that they don't take credit or debit cards. I was bummed to miss out on my cc points and it was annoying to have to mail in a check rather than just pay over the phone or online. For such a large purchase, I couldn't be happier with how it all went down and came out.
When we checked out their work the next day we found multiple, I mean MULTIPLE, paint splatters all over the place. On the hardwood floors (had to be at least 10 paint splatters on the ground), paint on the fireplace, clumps of paint on the wall. There were several areas that needed a paint touch up that weren't. It seemed like the whole job was done by a kid. We called them and asked if they could come back and basically finish their job. We told them we will mark all the paint splatters and areas missed with blue paint tape, so when they came back they would know exactly where to look. We marked probably about 20 areas that needed attention. Sounds flawless right?
We had an absolutely amazing experience getting the interior of our house painted by Color World. Tom was quick to give us his time for a quote and go over all questions we had. Shell was informative …and very accurate on helping us choose our colors. They couldn’t have sent a better crew of painters led by Shaun Childers. They have completely changed our lives and made our home something we are proud to show off and come home to. Highly Recommend! Flawless from start to finish! 😁 more »
For interior paint I prefer the semi-gloss, provides a very subtle sheen and is super easy to clean -no flaking, chipping, etc. I've painted a lot, and found that Sherwin Williams Ovation paint has been the easiest to use, and provides the best coverage. I even painted my ceilings with it and WOW! I was done it no time at all, with perfect coverage.
We got 4 quotes from various businesses. Excel Home Painting came in middle of the road and we picked them because of their professional approach - and we are now very happy with the outcome! Great job from start to finish - on time; friendly staff and offered suggestions. We had the exterior of our house painted and just got in before the weather turned nasty! We would highly recommend Excel Home Painting! Cheers! Linda
We had a bad experience with an interior painter years ago, with the crux of the problem being him overcharging us at the end for "extra work" he didn't anticipate. One thing I'd strongly recommend is making sure it's in the contract that any additional work or growth work is estimated and communicated to the owner as soon as it is identified, otherwise the owner is not liable to pay it at the end.
Unless you like textured walls, don't paint over dust. Wash the walls with trisodium phosphate (TSP) or a mild cleaner, like Jasco's TSP No-Rinse Substitute. For smoke-stained walls, Toto uses a 50/50 solution of bleach and water. To clean a wall, use two buckets. Load up your rag or sponge from your cleaning-solution bucket, and scrub. Before redipping, rinse the sponge in a second bucket filled with clean water.
Recently I had the outside of my home painted. The contractor wrote a good contract, but I failed to realize that some things were not in it. It reminds me of the car dealer who offered a good price on a new car but failed to mention that it did not include tires. My contractor failed to specify that lattice under a porch was included. So the painters did not paint it. To his credit, he did instruct them to paint it when I brought it to his attention. If I had the job to do over again I would look for an individual who came with referrals from happy customers rather than a franchise owner..

Day-to-day tasks can consume too much time when there is little or no automation. Countless cloud-based productivity tools are available to streamline and automate your tasks. These tools can usually be put into place with little disruption to your current practices. Ultimately, integrating new automation tools will increase productivity and help you make the most […]

Register your business. The final step to becoming operational is to actually form a business entity. Usually, this is as simple as filling out a few forms with the Business Services Division of your local government. Private contractors will need to file for sole proprietorship, which means you'll be recognized as having full ownership of the company.[21]

I did go with the highest bidder and it did not matter. They did a shoddy job and threatened to take me to court when I pointed out mistakes that they made based on their work standards stated on the quote. I have not paid them yet, just filed a complaint with the BBB. No money down asked, no contract signed. The boss stated I have to high of expectations just because I live in a 121 year old house!

Once you’ve picked the perfect color, you still have to decide on what type of paint you want for the space. Whether you’re looking for an elegant, refined finish or a material that will wipe clean after an impromptu mural from your little one, there are paint types to suite every situation. When it comes to selecting interior paints, several popular options include:
Repaint — exteriors especially — before visible signs of wear appear, Bancroft says. Don’t wait until you see peeling or flaking paint. “If I have to spend 40 hours preparing the surface before we can paint, that time is going to result in a lot of extra costs. But if I can spend 10 hours preparing the surfaces to be painted, you’re going to save money,” Freeman says.

Freshly painted walls often look blotchy. The color is uniform, but the sheen isn’t consistent. This usually occurs over the holes and cracks you patched with a filler or drywall compound. The porous fillers absorb the paint, dulling the surface (a problem called “flashing”). When light hits these dull spots, they stick out like a sore thumb. The smooth patch also stands out in contrast to the slightly bumpy texture of the rest of the wall. A quick coat of primer is all it takes to eliminate ﬂashing and texture differences.

To get basic measurements, measure the length and width of each wall you want to paint in inches. Multiply the length and height together, and divide by 144. This will give you the square footage for each wall. A gallon of paint typically covers around 400 square feet. In some cases, you may need a primer 2 first, then a single coat of paint, meaning that you may need one gallon of primer and one gallon of paint to cover 400 square feet. However, if the wall requires multiple coats, this will increase the total amount of square footage required, and therefore the amount of paint.

Deciding which paint to use has gotten much easier now that acrylic latexes have pushed oil-based paints almost to extinction. The acrylics offer superior performance (they don't harden with age, the way oils do, so they move and breathe without blistering), they don't mildew as readily, and they emit fewer VOCs, so they comply with new air-quality regulations. They also work over both oil- and water-based primers.

Over time, even the best paint job needs a new coat. Old paint peels and fades and those colors that were all the rage ten years ago can start to look a bit dated. With your busy schedule, you've got no time to pick up a paintbrush, and you've just remembered that your in-laws are in town for dinner next week! We hear stories like this all the time, and our reply is always the same: don't panic! Book a painting professional through the Handy platform. Wall painting shouldn’t be stressful and when you use the Handy platform, it won’t be.
Spills and spatters happen, regardless of how careful you are. It’s a lot easier to pre- pare for them than to wipe them out of your carpeting or off your wood floor later. All it takes is canvas drop cloths in your work area (a 4-ft. x 15-ft. cloth costs $15). The thick canvas stays in place, so you don’t need to tape it, and you can use it to cover any surface. Plastic drop cloths are slippery to walk on or set a ladder on and don’t stay in place. Even worse, paint spills on plastic stay wet, and they can end up on your shoes and get tracked through the house. Canvas is slippery on hard ﬂoors, so rosin paper ($10 for 400 sq. ft. at home centers) is better over vinyl, tile and hard- wood. Tape the sheets together and to the ﬂoor to provide a nonslip surface.
My son Owen and I thank you for the truly wonderful, informative and entertaining experience provided by the TOH staff, crew and trades-people at the Pro2Pro Brookline event. From Elizabeth - who welcomed us to the event, to Chris, Kevin and others who were wonderful during the orientation session (answering questions that I'm sure you have heard dozens of times before), to Charlie, Kevin, Richard, Heath (the electrician) and Thomas (the program director), you helped us Insiders to understand and appreciate the pride that you take in your work. It was refreshing. I loved the pictures and accompanying text of the event that you posted. I have to say in closing to Chris, Kevin and Thomas (in particular) you gave my son, a budding landscaper, the impetus to continue his pursuit of the trades. Kudos to you all and keep up your great work!
Enforcement of this Act by the Painter-Stainers Company was sought up until the early 19th century, with master painters gathering irregularly to decide the fees that a journeyman could charge, and also instigating an early version of a job centre in 1769, advertising in the London newspapers a "house of call" system to advertise for journeymen and also for journeymen to advertise for work. The guild's power in setting the fee a journeyman could charge was eventually overturned by law in 1827, and the period after this saw the guild's power diminish, along with that of the other guilds; the guilds were superseded by trade unions, with the Operative United Painters' Union forming sometime around 1831.[2]